Ashlands Primary School in Ilkley has benefitted from Yorkshire Water’s ongoing project to build a new sewer under the A65.

Two tonnes of topsoil from the tunnel, which is being bored by a remote tunnelling machine, has been delivered to the school to help expand the school's garden.

Yorkshire Water, and its partner Ward and Burke, also delivered an assembly at the school to explain the project, why it’s needed and what it will achieve.

The pupils were also asked to name the tunnelling machine, and the winner was seven-year-old Emily from Beech class, who came up with ‘Diggy’. The name was added to the side of the machine before it began tunnelling and Emily was given a £50 Ilkley cinema voucher, a Yorkshire Water bottle and high-vis jacket and a voucher for Clip ‘N Climb Ilkley as a prize.

Diggy has already made significant progress boring a hole under the A65, with 90m of sewer pipe installed.

Andrew McKinley, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “This is an important project for us and the local community and we’ve been working hard to engage as much as possible with customers in the area.

“Due to the location of the work site, children at Ashlands Primary have naturally been interested in what we’re doing so it’s been great to go in and explain to them what’s happening under the road and why it’s important. The tunnelling machine is now busy boring a hole under the road and looks great with its new name on the side. Well done Emily and everyone who entered the competition.”